1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dental apparatus, particularly a periodontal dental apparatus and more particularly to a toothbrush apparatus which has a movable head.
2. Previous Art
On a daily basis, there is no more important action one can take to preserve one's teeth than brushing. Tooth brushing cleans the teeth and prevents the build of plaque and similar tooth decaying material. Tooth brushing has been known for a very long time and there has been a variety of devices to assist one in doing a thorough job of cleaning teeth by brushing.
Earlier in this century, mechanical improvements to tooth brushes were emphasized. For example, Domingue, U.S. Pat. No. 1,557,244 discloses a tooth brush having "rotary cleaning elements" (bristles). Reichmann, U.S. Pat. No. 1,090,126 and Steiner U.S. Pat. No. 2,175,975 also discloses tooth brushes having rotating cleaning elements. Each of these devices is designed to improve the tooth brush's ability to clean the teeth and remove foreign matter such as plaque and the like.
Dadian, U.S. Pat. No. 2,169,581, discloses an additional mechanical improvement to a tooth brush. Dadian discloses a tooth brush having a pivotable head.
More recent tooth brush apparatus improvements have focused on increased cleaning ability by automatic means. For example, Crawford et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,795 discloses a periodontal cleaning device having a plurality of rotating heads and gears powered by automatic means. Hegemann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,630 and Brockman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,264 similarly disclose automatic periodontal cleaning devices which use an automatic method for rotating the cleaning element for improving tooth cleaning.
While the automatic periodontal cleaning devices have proven effective at cleaning, they tend to be somewhat bulky and therefore difficult to carry while traveling and the like. Additionally, some of the automatic periodontal devices require some training before they can be used effectively. Also, these automatic devices are many times more expensive than a simple tooth brush.
What is needed is simple toothbrush apparatus that has the effectiveness of the automatic periodontal devices and the cost and convenience of the simpler mechanical devices.